Plan 17
by Troglodytes
Summary: Shikamaru couldn't look away. Plan Seventeen has three steps. Angst, death, and a sleep-deprived author. You have been warned.
1. Point of No Return

**Hello, Trog here! So apparently my muses haven't abandoned me after all. This is not the most coherent thing I've ever written, given my current state of sleep deprivation, but whatever. It's a story. For that matter, it's a more-or-less complete story, so I can promise that I will put up a chapter each day. Thanks for reading!  
**

**Warnings: angst, death, and language.  
**

**This is a Team Ten fic, set in a most likely AU future.  
**

* * *

Plan 17: Step One

Shikamaru couldn't look away.

It was sick, agonizing, even terrifying, but he just stood there, silent, watching. It was all he could do.

Cursing softly as green-glowing hands danced from wound to wound, Sakura ignored him, as she had been for the past week. He didn't mind. A medic's focus had to be her patient, after all. That was logical, right?

He had trouble telling logic from desperation lately.

Ten days ago, Shikamaru was smirking and waving as Ino trotted off in yet another borrowed body. 'The best infiltration technique ever,' she called it. Not only did the Mind Transfer give her the flawless appearance as the cover identity, it also allowed her to skim the victim's memories for accurate portrayal of behavior and intimate knowledge of security procedures. Of course, it left her teammate with the task of looking after her own comatose body, but it's not like that was such a hard job, right? Just fortify a campsite, keep a watch, and wait. Easy. Perfect for the lazy Nara she'd been working alongside for so many years. Hell, they'd done this so many times it had become a routine. A milk run, even.

_Idiot, _he wailed internally, hands clenched into fists. _Of course things would go wrong. No plan is perfect; even if it works a thousand times, there are still flaws. How could I forget that?_

A day after Ino had begun her infiltration, the first wound appeared. Shikamaru knew that if her borrowed body was injured, the damage was also transferred to her real body: a side effect of the jutsu. _She probably got into a fight, _he'd thought at the time. _Just a bruise on her cheek, though, nothing to worry about. _He was wrong. More bruises appeared, and he began to worry, began to wonder what had happened. If Ino's ruse was discovered, she would end the jutsu and they'd run. It wouldn't be the first time. But she didn't.

On the evening of that same day, as he sat staring up at the stars and calculating the odds that he would be forced to go in and rescue the proud kunoichi, a horrible hiss sounded from Ino's lifeless form. The smell of burnt meat told him the cause, but he was no less shocked to see the brand on the back of her neck. A seal of some kind. With that, his decision was made. Leaving Ino in the care of the random chunin they'd brought along to fill out the team's numbers, he broke into the rebel camp and searched for her vessel. She wasn't there. Not only had the bastards captured his teammate, they had moved her elsewhere without him noticing.

_I wasn't expecting that. Ino improved the time she could sustain this jutsu, but the range was never more than half a kilometer at best. How the hell are they still holding her? _Shikamaru clenched his teeth. He and the chunin carried Ino away from the targets' camp, but it didn't break the jutsu. As more wounds began to manifest, the team captain had panicked and brought her all the way back to Konoha.

That was a week ago.

Based on the location, timing, and severity of Ino's wounds, they were intended to inflict pain without causing fatal harm. Sakura and Shizune took turns healing them as they appeared, but Shikamaru knew that Ino's borrowed body didn't have that luxury. She was feeling the unmitigated pain. His beautiful, deadly, bossy woman was being tortured, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Standing in the corner of the hospital room, Shikamaru closed his eyes, running through every possible plan for freeing his partner. _Plans one through twelve failed when we couldn't break the jutsu by distance. Eighteen to twenty-five require too much time. I don't know where they're keeping her, so twenty-six to thirty-nine are invalid. The Hokage sent ANBU to search the area, which covers thirteen through fifteen, but they aren't finding her, either. Plan fifty-two might work, but the odds of her captors being Grass-nin aren't high enough for the bait to work right. What about Forty-Three? It'd take some time, but perhaps…_

"Shikamaru! Can you hear me?" His head jerked up to find Sakura standing in front of him, looking exhausted. "I thought you fell asleep on your feet," she exclaimed. "Not that I'd blame you. How long have you been standing there?"

"Ino?" he asked quietly. Shizune hadn't come in to relieve the pink-haired medic, so something else had happened.

Haruno sighed. "Resting, I think. Nothing's, um, appeared in a while, so I think her captors are, well, taking a break for now." As much as she put up a strong front, the Nara could see how hard it was for her to see her oldest friend like this. "You should sleep, Shikamaru. Go home, or, if you can't, I'll set up another bed in here. Okay?"

He nodded silently, and Sakura squeezed his shoulder on her way out the door. "I'll be back with a bed for you in a few minutes," she called from the hallway.

Shikamaru took a deep breath and approached the bed. Ino lay motionless. That in and of itself wasn't a new sight, considering how often she had left him to deal with her like this. The problem was his memory of each and every cut, burn, and bruise that Sakura and Shizune had healed. Ino was feeling them all, right now, locked in some disgusting cell or tied to a tree or wherever They had taken her. Here, in front of him, she looked peaceful, as if she were only sleeping. He shivered. _That's something you say about a dead person. 'Oh, Grandma's so peaceful, like she's asleep.' Ino is alive, damnit! _Oblivious to his simmering rage, the kunoichi lay motionless on the bed, cloth only providing the minimum of coverage to preserve her dignity. In order for the medics to know she had been injured, they had to see the wound, since no damage would occur to any clothes or blankets.

As he stood there, more blood came to light: a fresh cut on her abdomen. Shikamaru growled, about to call Sakura back, but then he stopped. The new wound was shallow and hesitant. Another began, crossing the other precisely. _Is that what I think it is? _Soon, whoever was making these cuts gained confidence, and they began to appear at an alarming rate. Nara stared, a lump in his throat. The small, scrapelike cuts were words. Words written in familiar handwriting.

[sorry Shika Cho]

The stressed shinobi at her side snarled in fury and turned to punch the wall. Ino had found a way to communicate. He had been praying that she wouldn't resort to this, as it meant only one thing. By the time he turned around, his fears were confirmed.

[breaking: Plan 17]

Forcefully suppressing all emotion, Shikamaru watched as the rest of Ino's message manifested. Slowly, he drew a kunai.

* * *

On her way back to Ino's room with a small futon, Sakura was approached by a frantic medical student. The poor kid was screaming about an insane shinobi sprinting through the hospital with blood on his hands and death in his eyes, yelling about killing everyone. At first, she raised an eyebrow. By the time she realized that the student was serious, another student ran up to her, wailing about how the patient in room 502 was murdered.

_502? 502. That's Ino's room! _Sakura ran, breaking down the door rather than opening it.

The blonde woman lay on the bed, as still as she had been for the past week. This time, it was different: a neat slice had opened her throat, killing her. Sakura shrieked and ran to heal her, but it was too late.

Yamanaka Ino was dead.

* * *

**If you're wondering where Chouji is, please come back for tomorrow's update. I did warn you that bad things were happening, didn't I?**


	2. Settling Accounts

Plan 17: Part Two

"Um, Sensei? Sensei!"

Startled, Amkimichi Chouji looked up from his roasted rabbit, blinking at the worried expressions on three fourteen-year-old faces. "Is something wrong?" he asked quietly.

"Yes!" wailed Yumi, the loudest of his genin. "You're not eating!"

"You always eat more than the rest of us combined," lavender-eyed Neji stated, as calm and matter-of-fact as his namesake 'uncle.'

The third member of the team nodded, the campfire shining off Inuzuka clan markings. "You've been smelling kinda sad ever since we started coming home. I thought you were glad that the mission was over!"

Chouji just blinked at them, unsure how to explain. "I'm not hungry." _Easier to leave it at that. I can't really explain it, anyway._

Yumi snorted. "Bullshit!"

"Language!" Neji hissed. "We may be out in the middle of nowhere, but that doesn't mean you have to speak like that!"

Thankfully, the impending argument was interrupted by the silent arrival of an ANBU wearing a mask that resembled a wolf. A huge white dog landed at the side of the black-cloaked shinobi, panting.

"Hi, Dad," the young Inuzuka chirped.

The ANBU sighed. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I wear the mask if even chibi little genin can identify me."

"Sorry," his daughter whispered, avoiding the surprised stares of her teammates. Her puppy whined and curled tighter in her lap.

"Whatever. You lot, don't tell anyone, okay?" Kiba turned to Chouji, saying, "Man… I'm sorry. This sucks, but we need you. There's a problem."

"ANBU needs _Chouji_?" Yumi shrieked incredulously. In her mind, it was bad enough that her shy teammate had an ANBU for a father, but if their chubby goof of a sensei turned out to be some kind of super-shinobi, everything she thought she knew was a lie.

Neji elbowed her, whispering, "Call him Chouji_-sensei_, brat."

Chouji ignored it all, recognizing the tone of his old friend's voice. "What did Shika do this time?" he joked, keeping up appearances while standing up and handing his dinner to the exhausted dog. _This is bad. Very very bad. As long as no-one's dead, things will be okay. Just keep the kids out of it._ "Neji, no Byakugan lip-reading," he ordered as he led the ANBU out of their hearing range.

It was the Hyuuga genin's turn to be embarrassed. He'd assumed that Chouji-baka wouldn't have noticed him doing that in the past.

"Something's wrong," little Inuzuka Suki murmured, a high-pitched yap of agreement sounding from her lap. Her father's hound nuzzled her face, grumbling canine assurances that whatever was wrong, the Alpha would fix it. Or tear it to pieces, whichever came first. She giggled and hugged Akamaru's neck tightly.

Once they were a safe distance from the fire, Kiba stopped. Shaking slightly, he pulled a folded piece of paper out of his cloak, handing it over. "Something went wrong on Shikamaru and Ino's last espionage mission," he explained hesitantly.

Heart sinking, Chouji was unable to ask the obvious question.

"They both came back," Kiba said, taking pity on him. "But Ino got stuck, somehow. She got captured, and the enemy sealed her in her Transfer victim, apparently, because we couldn't figure out how to get her back. Chouji…" his voice trailed off.

Holding back tears, the Akimichi knew what Kiba was trying to tell him. Rather than knowledge it, he read the paper aloud. "Sorry Shika, Cho. Breaking: Plan 17." His voice cracked. "She's dead, isn't she?"

"Yeah," Kiba admitted quietly.

Swallowing his grief, the big man looked at the rest of the paper. A series of numbers, meaningless to anyone not part of an Ino-Shika-Cho triad. "Scroll," he demanded. The worried Inuzuka handed one over, wondering what Chouji was writing.

Message complete, Chouji walked back to his team, face completely expressionless. "Yumi. Take this. Do _not _lose it."

His students stared. They'd never seen their silly sensei like this.

"Go back to Konoha as quickly as possible. Deliver that to the Hokage. Not anyone else, understand? I don't care who they are. This is important." He went to his huge pack, digging for something. "This is beyond you guys. Just go home and wait. That's an order."

They were still staring. Yumi clutched the scroll. Neji's eyes noted the black cloth and flash of white showing in the bundle his sensei pulled from the bottom of his pack. "No way," he muttered. Suki just squeaked and reached for her own already-packed bag.

"What was that?" Chouji glared at the Hyuuga. "One of my oldest friends just died, my best friend is on his way to get himself killed, and I need you three to act like competent adults. No arguments, no lies, and no hesitation. Got it?"

"Ino-chan and Shikamaru-san?" Yumi gasped. Neji just saluted. Suki gnawed on her lip, sharpened Inuzuka teeth at odds with the nervous gesture.

By the time they could think of anything else to say, the two adults and the dog were gone.

The Hyuuga summed up all of their thoughts in two words. "Well, shit."

* * *

Five kilometers of killing-intent-filled silence later, Kiba finally relented to Akamaru's insistent prodding. "Chouji. Where are we going?"

"We're going to recover a body," the dead-eyed Akimichi said, facial expression hidden behind a rarely-used walrus mask.

Kiba gulped. "Um, you know that Ino's body is already back in Konoha, don't you?"

Chouji sighed. "If Ino was ever caught on one of their damned spying missions, she would release the jutsu and they'd leave. If the release was somehow blocked and rescue was impossible, she'd kill herself."

Nodding, the Inuzuka sighed. It was an unfortunate standard among imprisoned shinobi.

"Killing herself was Plan Sixteen. If-" the big man's voice broke for a moment, and he stumbled on a tree branch. "If she couldn't for some reason, she was supposed to order Shika to initiate Plan Seventeen."

"By hurting herself," Kiba said quietly.

Voice steady now, Chouji agreed. "Yeah. Seventeen has three parts. Part one is over. That- that's Shika killing Ino."

Choking, the wolf-masked man whispered, "We thought it was the ones holding her. Y'know, just another transferred injury."

"It wasn't," was the grim reply. "Part Two is him using the intel from the coded numbers to locate her captors and eliminate them. We're going there."

Kiba just continued jumping from branch to branch in silence before asking, "What about the third part?"

"Like I said, we're going to recover a body."

At that, the Inuzuka was forced to stop for a second, eyes wide. "You mean…"

"If you and Hinata were surrounded by enemies, if she was going to be captured, and they knew she has the Byakugan, you're under orders to kill her and destroy her eyes." Chouji said it as if it were obvious.

"Y- yeah." Kiba stared at his friends back. "How did you know that?"

"I have a main branch Hyuuga for a student. I know the law. What would you do afterward?"

"Kill myself," the smaller man answered promptly. It wasn't an unusual thing for a shinobi to destroy his own life after duty forced him to do the unthinkable.

"This is the Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi contract," Chouji explained. "Yamanaka takes the risk, and if it goes wrong, the Nara does the clean-up work, and the Akimichi, the Akimichi deals with the motherfucking aftermath. It's clan tradition."

"Tradition? This has happened before?" Kiba was howling now, Akamaru trying in vain to remind him that they were supposed to be traveling stealthily.

"Why do you think we're always placed on a team together? Hell, Dad kept me out of the Academy for a year so that I'd be at graduation with them." Chouji's voice was bitter. It was strange, coming from him. "Not that they tell us this until we all hit jonin, of course."

The Inuzuka blinked as he realized something. "The Mind Transfer is a Bloodline Limit?"

The Akimichi didn't answer. Apparently, those explanations were all Kiba was going to get out of him.

* * *

It took a day for them to reach a ransacked campsite that had two more ANBU tied up and tucked into a tent. One of them was struggling to free herself. The other lay silent, unconscious.

"I'm gonna kill that crazy Nara!" Chipmunk yelled as soon as they removed the gag. "I don't know how he did it, but he took both of us out. Beetle's down and out. I think that Shikamaru killed him!"

"Shut up, old woman," the Wolf snarled. Chipmunk had always been a pain in the neck. He was just glad that he outranked her now. Dealing with someone not of the Konoha Twelve on this mission was going to be difficult.

Walrus went over, taking off the Beetle mask and pouring a bottle down his throat. "A paralytic poison," he explained. "No real harm done."

In a few minutes, Beetle sat up, shaking his head and letting his Kikaichu swarm the general area."What?" he muttered dazedly.

"Shikamaru got you with a paralytic, Shino." Kiba chuckled, a dash of his usual humor coming back.

Given a few minutes to regroup and half an hour to reach the targets' hideout, the somber mood had resettled. Chipmunk was crass as always, making pointed comments about how she'd never even heard of a Walrus ANBU.

The others ignored her.

Upon reaching the unremarkable cave entrance, Chouji stopped, examining a boulder. Then, as casually as could be, he picked the entire thing up and tossed it aside, pulling a scrap of paper off the bottom. He read it, sighed, and headed for the cave, shoulders set. Shrugging, the rest of the ad hoc team followed.

At first, they just glanced around, noticing sprung and disabled traps everywhere. A few had blood on them; a corresponding body was found near each of these. Once they got to the inner rooms, Beetle, Wolf, and Chipmunk gasped. These were shaped by some sort of jutsu, but the even walls were spattered with blood, and five corpses covered the floor. Well, there were pieces of at least five bodies, anyway, judging by the number of heads.

Kiba and Akamaru gagged on the smell, doing their level best not to throw up. As ANBU, they'd smelled worse things, but that didn't mean they'd ever get used to it. Shino simply shrunk further into himself, agitated kikaichu buzzing a bit louder. Chipmunk gaped.

"Fuck, Shika." Chouji's agonized mutter was muffled by the mask, but he knew that the others had heard it.

That hateful Chipmunk woman sputtered in indignation. "You're telling me that _he _did this? No way in hell. Konoha's Laziest Ninja doesn't have the strength! I mean, come on…" her words trailed off upon realizing that Wolf was staring at her.

Emotions leaked from the place he put them to become the Walrus, and no wonder, given the mission at hand. Chouji moved to the door, opening it and listening to Kiba and Chipmunk's argument with an ironic smile. _How many are there who have no idea how strong you are? Were. Damn, I can't do this. I can't just walk in, pick up your body, walk out, and write it all up in a fucking report. Why do I get the hardest job?_

"Um, Chipmunk, this-" the Inuzuka gestured at the carnage around him "was most definitely Nara Shikamaru's work. Hell, you ought to recognize it! You've worked together a few times, haven't you?"

She snorted. "I only receive ANBU missions, Wolf."

The Beetle mask tilted slightly to convey Shino's confusion. "Shikamaru-san is in ANBU, Chupmunk-san. He wears the Salamander mask."

"Guh- what? No, no no. Sure, Sal-kun is a Nara, but he's the most determined little asshole I've ever worked with! Tears enemies to fucking pieces with their own shadows…" her words drifted to a stop again as she considered the evidence strewn across the entire room. "Oh."

"Oh? Yeah, I'd say so! Now shut your mouth and follow along, Chippy." Pushing past the stunned kunoichi, Kiba caught up to Chouji, an apology on his lips. The Akimichi waved it away, not wanting to talk.

By the time they reached the lower levels, several more demonstrations of Shikamaru's ability scattered along the way, Chipmunk was blessedly silent, Kiba and Akamaru were more than a bit freaked out by Chouji's lack of reaction, and Shino spoke only to mention that his allies had found their goal down a hallway to the right.

When Chouji opened the door indicated by a few of Shino's kikaichu, there was a collective gasp.

A woman's body lay sprawled on the floor, bloody and broken. Kneeling in front of it, also covered in blood, was a dark-haired figure. "Shika," Chouji whispered. "Oh, Shika…" His friend was slumped, motionless, already gone.


	3. Uncontrolled Variables

Chapter Three: Uncontrolled Variables

Hesitantly, he stepped into the room, Kiba and Shino just behind. _He's gone. Dead. They're both dead. They're really gone. _As much as the trip here had prepared the big ninja, his heart was breaking even farther now, unable to deny how alone he felt. One shaking hand reached out to touch Shikamaru's shoulder- and froze in place.

"Huh. I thought I'd killed you all. Getting sloppy." Dark lines wrapped around the four closest bodies, leaving Chipmunk to shriek in fright and run. By the sound of her falling back down the stairs, she didn't get far. Chouji could hear Akamaru whimpering in fear as a tendril of shadow wound itself around the dog's neck.

"Did I miss any more, or are you the last ones?" The stranglehold on Chouji's neck loosened slightly. "You. Talk."

The Akimichi squeaked. "Alive?" He asked weakly. "Shikamaru?"

Tendril retightening, the moonlit figure hissed. "How do you know my name?"

"I- I- Shika it's _me_. I'm here. It's me and Kiba and Shino, we, we came to find you." The tendril twitched. Chouji flinched. "Shikamaru. Get a grip," he growled. "I'm glad you're alive. I'm over the fucking moon about it. But for the spirits' sake, would you please not kill us?" the shaken Nara's shoulders straightened. "Please. It's me, your best friend. I- you hate apples, but you buy them in bushels to feed Yuki-chan, your favorite deer. I stole Naruto's orange tracksuit on a dare six years ago, and he still refuses to forgive me. Ino- Ino was only ticklish on the bottoms of her feet. Please, my friend, my love, it's _me_."

Their bonds dissolved. "Ch- Chouji?"

"Yeah, babe, I'm right here." The Akimichi moved quickly to kneel beside Shikamaru, ripping of his Walrus mask and leaning their foreheads together.

The Nara shivered. "I fucked it all up, Cho. Hell, I can't even do _this _right." He waved a kunai meaningfully up his own arm.

Growling, Chouji took the blade from him and tossed it to the other side of the room. Cradling the other man's head in his hands, he briefly kissed him on the lips. Shikamaru didn't respond; he didn't seem to notice. "I don't care about the contract," Chouji declared tearfully. "Why do I have to lose both of you? Maybe we could both keep living, huh? She's gone, but maybe we don't have to be."

Shikamaru snorted. "Cho. Are you as blind as I was? Here, look." He grabbed one of the huge hands, guiding it to the wrist of the body on the floor beside them. "Do you feel that? I screwed this whole thing up from the beginning!"

"She's alive? Is- is this Ino?"

Chouji barely breathed the words, but Kiba had heard enough. "Chippy! Here, now! Heal the woman. For the love of Konoha, she does not die, have you got that?"

Speechless, the abrasive medic-ANBU scurried to her patient's side, eyes widening at the sheer number of wounds. "Hai, Wolf-taichou."

"How? I thought you- the Plan?" Chouji sobbed, barely registering Shikamaru's arms wrapping around him tightly.

Glaring at Chipmunk in warning of the consequences of failure, his Shika murmured back "I don't know. I don't fucking know. Maybe it was their seal? She's in there, though. When- When I got here, she was conscious. She knew me."

Once the former prisoner (Ino?) was stabilized and her teammates were at least moderately coherent, Wolf, Akamaru, Chouji, and Chipmunk left to take her home. Shino did not complain about being left with clean-up duty.

Chouji was carrying Ino's new body, tears running down his face, Walrus mask forgotten. Chipmunk ran alongside him, tossing the occasional healing into her patient. For all that the older ANBU was hard to work with, she was a good field medic. Shikamaru ran on Chouji's other side, eyes red-rimmed but dry. He seemed oblivious to the blood and gore covering his uniform. Wolf ran ahead, carrying Chouji's mask for him. Akamaru stayed to the rear of their ragtag group.

A few hours into their trip home, Kiba sighed, falling back beside Shikamaru. "Man, I'm sorry. This is horrible."

The Nara grunted, not looking at him.

They continued in silence for the rest of the trip.

Given that most of their 'team' was at least partially in ANBU uniform, they took the hidden route over the wall to the headquarters rather than through the main gates to the hospital.

Sakura was waiting for them anyway.

"What is wrong with you, Nara!" she shrieked, punching him through a wall. He didn't even try to defend himself. "I don't care what crazy clan contract you signed, you don't do things like that!"

"Sakura!" Chouji said warningly. When she ignored him in favor of beating on Shikamaru, he yelled. "Haruno Sakura, your patient is over here. Please, I am begging you, stop blaming him and help her!"

The pink-haired medic blinked, staring at the woman in his arms, recognizing her injuries. "Is that Ino?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yeah," Kiba said. "So if you wouldn't mind?"

"Right. Of course. Let's get her to the infirmary."

Once both Sakura and Shizune had assured him that Ino would survive, Kiba managed to get Shikamaru to clean himself up, on the condition that Chouji stay with their not-quite-lost teammate. As the exhausted shadow manipulator stumbled out of the ANBU showers, Kiba tossed a clean set of clothing at him. Shikamaru grunted gratefully and began to put them on.

"Look, I know you three are closer than most of the Twelve have ever been, except maybe Naruto and that bastard Sasuke. It's just- you and Chouji are a couple? 'Cause everyone seems to think that it's you and Ino." Kiba looked awkward.

"No." Shikamaru smirked, the first real emotion the Inuzuka had seen on him yet. "It's neither me and Ino nor me and Cho. It's me and Ino and Chouji."

"Ino-Shika-Cho," Kiba chuckled. "Is this a clan tradition, too?"

Shikamaru glanced at him, raising an eyebrow. "No. Actually, please don't tell them, or anyone. I thought the three of us, together- you're not bothered?"

Akamaru yipped scornfully. Kiba grinned. "Shikamaru. You're in ANBU. You know how crazy things can get after a hard misson. I'm not unfamiliar with the idea."

"It's not like that," the Nara grumbled. "We're _together_. As in sharing an apartment, joking about kids, sharing a bed."

"Oh. Huh. Right. I've never- that's kind of weird, man."

He shrugged. "I don't know, either. Not in my plans, I'll tell you that."

Kiba laughed oddly. "Dude, have you not figured this out yet. Plans suck! Just find a way to be happy. With our lives, that's what matters."

Fully dressed, Shikamaru walked out of the room, muttering, "Plans are bad, I don't hate Chipmunk, and Kiba's advice makes sense. The world must be ending."

* * *

**So, not the most well-written ending ever, but not too horrible, I hope. There may or may not be a sequel about Ino's recovery and everyone dealing with her effectively being a different person. It's up to the muses whether that story gets written, so please be patient.**

**Thanks for reading!  
**


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